Coalition would bring back public servant bonuses

A Coalition government would pay bonuses to senior public servants who could cut red tape.

File photo: ABC News

The Federal Coalition says, if elected, it would pay bonuses to senior public servants who could identify economic savings and cut red tape.

The performance pay scheme used by the Howard government has been wound back under Labor, which says the practice prompts bureaucrats to only give advice ministers want to hear.

The Howard government was also criticised for keeping details of bonuses paid a secret.

But chairman of the Coalition's deregulation taskforce Senator Arthur Sinodinos says an Abbott government would favour a transparent system of using financial rewards to get the best from staff.

"It's something that would be reflected in people's duty statements, mission statements," he said.

"We want to create more of a culture of gain-sharing around this so that everybody understands that we are identifying, quantifying costs and benefits, and sharing some of the benefits of reducing red tape.

"In part, that would be reflected in the way senior public servants are remunerated."

Senator Sinodinos says he trusts public servants to always give full and frank advice.

"My inclination would be to be transparent about this," he said.

"I know there are some people who say 'well are there privacy concerns about publishing certain types of information?'.

"What we would do in that regard is look at models overseas, where it's been done in New Zealand, and how transparency issues are handled."

But the union representing Commonwealth public servants has rejected any move to reintroduce performance pay.

Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) national secretary Nadine Flood says it could lead to poor decision-making.

"Does that mean senior executives in DAFF [Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry] and Biosecurity be driven to come forward and say 'we should deregulate these elements of biosecurity, we should remove these quarantine protections, because that's how I get my performance bonus?'," she said.

"There are some real questions about what sort of incentives that sets up."

Ms Flood says it does not get the best from staff.

"The reason why it didn't work is because the nature of the public service means that people are operating on cooperation, on team work, on finding whole-of-government solutions," she said.

"What this actually did was put resources into rewarding a few without changing what actually occurred in the public service."